Meryl Streep shines in timely ‘The Post’
Streep talks about being a ‘newbie’ on a Spielberg set
Despite being a period piece, Steven Spielberg’s latest film feels extremely relevant—and urgent.
Steven Spielberg’s “The Post” is not only one of 2017’s most acclaimed movies; it is also one of the timeliest despite being set in 1971.
The action revolves around Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) as she weighs the decision to print the leaked Pentagon Papers, proving that President Nixon’s government is lying about winning the war in Vietnam.
In the midst of trying to take the Post public, Graham must decide if she is going to side with her editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) in defying Nixon or listen to the money men (Bradley Whitford, Tracy Letts) who urge her to back off from printing the explosive report.
Of course, the Post decided to expose the government’s lies, infuriating Nixon in the process. In an era in which President Trump continually refers to the mainstream media as “fake news,” “The Post” is a reminder of the importance of a free press.
Streep was first on the project a little over a year ago. But it was Spielberg and Hanks’ participation which gave “The Post” an instant greenlight. When preproduction began on the film in October 2016, the cast and crew imagined when the movie came out, Hillary Clinton would likely be in the White House.
“Remember those fun-filled days [before Trump was elected],” says Hanks, 61. “Not to step on anybody’s toes. You get to vote for whoever you want to in this great country of ours.
“But had it gone [Clinton’s] way, we would have been making probably a quaint museum piece, in which everybody would have been ooh-ing and ahh-ing about the ugly fashions and the big cars. But instead we were actually making a story that was ripped right out of 2017’s headlines.”
Streep was drawn to the timeliness of the movie but she also longed to the tell the feminist saga of Graham, the first woman to run a Fortune 100 company.
“The reason she was [running
the Post] was that her father owned the company and when it came time for him to pass it on, he passed it to her husband [and her husband subsequently died],” says Streep, 68.
“She thought that was the way it should be, and that’s the way things were then. I lived through that time. She’s the exact age my mother is, so that generation of women [included] so many potentially great leaders that didn’t do anything but raise money for good causes and do what they could within the realm of the home.
“It’s sort of shocking for my daughters. I try to explain what it was like back then. When I graduated from high school, there were really no women lawyers. There were very few women in business, except in makeup companies sometimes such as Estee Lauder.
“The world has changed for the better. Katharine Graham lived through that time and is emblematic of it.”
Hanks believes “The Post” not only showcases Graham at her best but also outlines how Bradlee helped her become the powerhouse she was.
“What [screenwriter] Liz Hannah captured was this moment in which Kay became Kay Graham, who not just owned and was the figurehead of the Post but who actually ran the Post,” says the actor.
Hanks met Bradlee years earlier and had conversations with the newspaperman, who is best known for spearheading the Post’s coverage of Watergate, and his reporter wife, Sally Quinn, who is played in the movie by Sarah Paulson.
“If there’s a word that can define respect and awe and empathy all in one, it’s what [Bradlee] had for [Graham],” says Hanks “It was, in fact, love. Sally said, “It’s kind of a love story between these two.”
“She said, ‘Ben loved her and he never said it.’ When he delivered the eulogy at her funeral, he did he say the words, ‘I loved her.’ He said it because his wife Sally said, ‘You have to tell people that.’”
For her part, Streep admits to being a smidge nervous about being the newbie on Spielberg’s set.
“I had not worked with [Spielberg] and I was apprehensive because I knew Tom had worked with him, and Spielberg’s whole crew was a group of people who were used to him,” says the actress. “You never know. Everybody works differently.”
What Streep discovered was a filmmaker who takes a giddy delight in his work. Near the beginning of the production, the actress and Hanks worked all day on a series of long master shots and assorted close-ups which helped establish the Graham/Bradlee relationship.
“We worked all day and it took forever,” she recalls. “Then Steven came back after we killed ourselves on the close-ups, and said, ‘You know, I think I like the second take we did this morning.’
“He just lives in the moment. It isn’t preplanned. It’s not a Hitchcock thing where everything is storyboarded ahead of time
“It lives. The process lives in the moment and that’s just so touching to me. He’s living it.”